Yeah-but... can he play the whistle?

[anniemcu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIAWRx6yjXU

I don't know how you warm up before playing, but I can tell you that I am not inclided to recommend this... makes my Yoga and Tai Chi look tame as all get out!

[straycat82]

[jsluder]

How can a human bend and twist their spine like that without snapping something?

[anniemcu]

How can a human bend and twist their spine like that without snapping something?

practice, practice, practice... and a good helping of pliant cartiledge... I wonder if he'll be more or less subject to arthitis in older age?

[djm]

That's incredible! Thanks for finding that one.

I wonder if he'll be more or less subject to arthitis in older age?

Yes, I was going to say something about how its usually kids under 15 that you see doing these incredible stunts of flexibility, but I have seen film of little old Chinese guys who can fold themselves up inside a basket that you'd swear they'd never fit in. It requires constant daily practise - a life commitment.

djm

[Cynth]

It is definitely incredible and sort of unnerving. I guess this is called contortionism. I like it up to a point. When he went through that cylinder stomach first, I felt sort of sick. It makes me feel icky if the direction seems too unnatural or something . There were a number of videos on the topic there, some more and some less extreme. The one called Zlata the Human Pretzel was strange---she seems like a very unhappy human pretzel.

[Redwolf]

We watched a documentary once on contortionists...it really was quite fascinating. It's true that it requires a lifetime of committment, but it also requires the right genes...contortionists are born with a tendency toward unusually lax ligaments that, among other things, allows them to dislocate most of their joints without pain or trauma (and, if the muscles are kept sufficiently stretched, to pop them right back in again). Anyone can develop flexibility up to a point, but a true contortionist is born, not made.

Redwolf

[emmline]

My daughter, who's now 16, can backbend to that high an arch, and I imagine she could do many of the things he does with a ring, but when he folded himself through stomach first...no, not that one.

[hyldemoer]

I don't know how you warm up before playing, but I can tell you that I am not inclided to recommend this... makes my Yoga and Tai Chi look tame as all get out!

My husband and I are debating if his favorite yoga teacher, Ana Forrest, could do all that.
At yoga conferences we've seen her give an evening performance 45 minute long of various inverted asanas done while balancing nonstop on just her hands or forearms.

I read somewhere she'd once considered joining Cirque du Soleil.

Speaking of which, when they come to town we get more of my family willing to attend as a family than we get willing to show up at reunions, weddings, showers or funerals. We all get tickets in the first couple rows and sit there with the look on our faces of stunned monkeys.

[anniemcu]

... I read somewhere she'd once considered joining Cirque du Soleil.

Speaking of which, when they come to town we get more of my family willing to attend as a family than we get willing to show up at reunions, weddings, showers or funerals. We all get tickets in the first couple rows and sit there with the look on our faces of stunned monkeys.

I wanna be adopted! I am noticibly jealous.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Absolutely cool!

[Flyingcursor]

I feel sort of queasy.

[Innocent Bystander]

Can he play whistle? Who cares? He's really good with short, wide pipes.